1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular, a method and apparatus for processing data. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method, apparatus, and computer instructions for processing input fields in a Web page.
2. Description of Related Art
The Internet, also referred to as an “internetwork”, is a set of computer networks, possibly dissimilar, joined together by means of gateways that handle data transfer and the conversion of messages from a protocol of the sending network to a protocol used by the receiving network. When capitalized, the term “Internet” refers to the collection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols.
The Internet has become a cultural fixture as a source of both information and entertainment. Many businesses are creating Internet sites as an integral part of their marketing efforts, informing consumers of the products or services offered by the business or providing other information seeking to engender brand loyalty. Many federal, state, and local government agencies are also employing Internet sites for informational purposes, particularly agencies which must interact with virtually all segments of society such as the Internal Revenue Service and secretaries of state. Providing informational guides and/or searchable databases of online public records may reduce operating costs. Further, the Internet is becoming increasingly popular as a medium for commercial transactions.
Currently, the most commonly employed method of transferring data over the Internet is the World Wide Web environment, also called simply “the Web”. Other Internet resources exist for transferring information, such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and Gopher, but have not achieved the popularity of the Web. In the Web environment, servers and clients effect data transaction using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a known protocol for handling the transfer of various data files (e.g., text, still graphic images, audio, motion video, etc.). The information in various data files is formatted for presentation to a user by a standard page description language, the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). In addition to basic presentation formatting, HTML allows developers to specify “links” to other Web resources identified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URL is a special syntax identifier defining a communications path to specific information. Each logical block of information accessible to a client, called a “page” or a “Web page”, is identified by a URL. The URL provides a universal, consistent method for finding and accessing this information, not necessarily for the user, but mostly for the user's Web “browser”. A browser is a program capable of submitting a request for information identified by an identifier, such as, for example, a URL. A user may enter a domain name through a graphical user interface (GUI) for the browser to access a source of content. The domain name is automatically converted to the Internet Protocol (IP) address by a domain name system (DNS), which is a service that translates the symbolic name entered by the user into an IP address by looking up the domain name in a database.
When a user visits a Website, the user is often asked to register with the Website by filling in a form. Further, the user also fills in forms when purchasing items from different Websites. Typically, a Web page is sent to the user in which a number of different input fields are present. These input fields may require the user to input data or to select data from a list of selections. Many of these forms have numerous fields in which some of the input fields are optional while other input fields are mandatory. If the user does not fill in all of the mandatory input fields, the process typically returns a message to the user indicating that one or more of the mandatory input fields have not been filled in by the user.
Identifying mandatory input fields also may be difficult with the number of input fields that are presented to the user. Currently, many Web pages identify mandatory input fields by bolding the label next to the input field or by placing a graphical indicator, such as a “*”, next to the field. These types of indicators are not sufficiently obvious to allow a user to quickly identify all of the mandatory input fields.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method, apparatus, and computer instructions for presenting mandatory input fields to a user.